As of Thursday, April 2nd, I’ve been under quarantine due to COVID-19 for about three weeks. I’ve been working out from home every day without access to my MMA gym.
MMA has been apart of my life since 2015 but I’ve just recently started training a little over a year and a half ago. Being locked up all day is making me miss it a little bit. Combat training is something that I believe every person should do. It’s not really about the punches and the kicks but that self-belief of being able to defend yourself and the respect you gain for others. It’s addictive. Let me explain.
There is Respect in MMA
People who train in MMA are truly a unique group of people. I come from a team sports background and if you follow my blog for a little bit you know that I come from a lacrosse background. The known stereotype of lacrosse players is that all players are all bros. They lack respect qualities, like to trash talk and party all the time. I heard them all. These negative qualities have driven me away from lacrosse as I got older and matured.
Ever since I’ve started training in MMA, I can count on one hand everybody that was kind of a prick. 99% of everyone is very nice and respectful. This fact was a total deviation from my thoughts before I started training. I thought everyone at the gym was there to kick your head off and choke you out to an inch of your life. That is not the case. Everyone is there to get better. The only way you can get better is by helping each other out by being a good training partner.
MMA Gives You Confidence
There is something cool about knowing what you can do to someone in a given situation. I work in New York City and take the subway all the time and there are plenty of wahoos out there that can cause problems for you if you were to get into a bad situation. But for me, I have the confidence in my ability to take someone down, hold them down, simply putting them into where they won’t be in an advantageous position to harm you.
MMA is a Challenge
There is also a great amount of difficulty in training. My body has been accustomed to playing sports all my life. The stopping and going, cuts and turns. There was a point where I used to never get tired playing lacrosse. When I spar in Kickboxing or Jiu-Jitsu, I am shot after one round. It is such a great workout. The added stress that if you don’t protect yourself properly you will get hurt just drains your energy. When I watch the professionals in the UFC go five-25 minute rounds I’m just appalled on how they can do that.
Conclusion
They said the quarantine because of the pandemic will be drawing to its ugly end probably by May or June. I have a greater appreciation of my hobbies now that I spent a large sum of time on the sidelines.
